1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a control method for the information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an information processing apparatus used in an office environment is expected to have a higher power-saving effect. The information processing apparatus is, for example, an image forming apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-201986 discusses an image forming apparatus capable of reducing effective power by turning on and off its power and by shifting to a power-saving mode. In addition, the image forming apparatus is capable of further reducing the effective power by turning off the power for devices that are not used even in the standby state.
On the other hand, an image forming apparatus for executing multiple function processing receives a plurality of jobs simultaneously. Thus, it is desirable that the image forming apparatus should efficiently execute the plurality of jobs. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-168704 discusses a job execution control method. This method automatically controls an execution order of a plurality of related jobs by selecting a second related job according to an execution result of a first related job.
In an image forming apparatus, power supply to a device, such as a printer and a scanner, can be turned on when the device is used and be turned off immediately after finishing the use of the device to achieve a high power-saving effect.
However, in the device including, for example, a relay in which the number of ON/OFF times of power is predetermined, there is a possibility that a device failure may occur due to ON/OFF of the power each time the device is used. That is, once the power is turned on, such a power-on state should be maintained as long as possible to deal with a risk of exceeding the predetermined number of ON/OFF times of the power.
Moreover, the device may consume time for initialization after the power is turned on. In such a case, once the power is turned off, the initialization takes time when the power is turned on next time. That is, an energization time is extended for a period of the initialization. This lowers user responsiveness as well as an electrical performance. Thus, once the device is energized, such an energized state should be maintained.
The energized state of the device needs to be maintained, while the power needs to be turned off when the device is not in use. These two contradicted demands need to be simultaneously solved.